In 1901, the Proctor and Gamble Company established Buckeye Cotton Oil Company as a subsidiary to ensure a consistent supply of cotton oil for their products. The company bought an existing mill on the banks of the Yazoo River in 1902 and rebuilt it, the first of several rebuildings in this extensive oil mill complex. The mill closed in 2014 due to decreased cotton production in the region but reopened as a soybean processor in 2016.
The current four-lane route of U.S. 82 and U.S. 49E opened near the mill in 1953, quickly attracting in 1957 the nearby Farmers (Co-op) Grain Terminal (2000 Garrard Avenue) with its huge concrete silos and elevator. An addition on the west in the 1960s and another on a north-south axis in 1977 increased the capacity from 700,000 bushels to 2.1 million, primarily of soybeans, corn, and rice.